Which life cycle requires all or part of two growing seasons to complete its life cycle; first season vegetative structures and food storage organs, second season it produces flowers, fruits, and seeds?

• A. Monocarpic life cycle
• B. Annual life cycle
• C. Perennial life cycle
• D. Biennial life cycle

Answer: (D)

Two-season life cycles are characteristic of biennial plants. In the first growing season, they focus on vegetative growth and building food storage organs such as roots or bulbs. Then, in the second season, those stored reserves fuel the development of flowers, fruits, and seeds, and the plant typically completes its life after seed production. This pattern distinguishes biennials from annuals, which finish everything in one season; perennials, which live for multiple years and can flower repeatedly; and monocarpic plants, which flower once and then die, regardless of the number of seasons involved. The described sequence—vegetative growth and storage in the first season, followed by flowering and seed production in the second—fits the biennial life cycle.